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A women-only Cambridge University college has changed its policy to allow any students who "identify" as female to apply.

Until this year, Murray Edwards college required all applicants to be “legally defined as female”. But now the college’s council has approved an update to its entry criteria, stating that it will accept any student “who at the point of application identifies as a woman”.

The college, whose alumni include Sue Perkins, Claudia Winkelman and Tilda Swinton, states on its website that “with so much gender inequality still in the world there is a role for a College able to focus on outstanding young women, their learning and skills for life."

The change was made after a motion on transgender was passed by the College Council, a group of academics and teaching fellows.

In a statement published after the vote, the council stated that it has “sympathy with the idea that gender is not binary” and that “narrow gender identities” are damaging to “wider society”.

Its statement adds: “In relation to current students, we consider each case on an individual basis, focusing on what is in the best interests of that individual, in full discussion with that student.

“Should the student decide that they would prefer to be in a mixed college if transitioning to male or if rejecting a binary gender category, the College would be fully supportive of a transfer.”

The decision has raised questions about the purpose of the College, which was founded to address gender imbalances at Cambridge University, which at the time had the lowest proportion of women undergraduates of any university in Britain.

Germaine Greer, a leading feminist and former lecturer at Newnham College, has described the decision as “ridiculous”.

“It’s a silly situation, and I’m sure that Murray Edwards will have their own reasons,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

“But it’s a difficult relationship, having a transgender person in an all-female environment. “If [Murray Edwards] really don’t believe that gender is binary, then they really shouldn’t be a single sex college. Their position is ridiculous. The only sane thing for them to do is to cease discriminating on the basis of assigned gender of any kind.

“There are plenty of women who have served their time in women’s colleges, who are pretty whiskery, but nobody did a DNA test on them. But they had to live women’s lives - with all the disabilities that that entails.”

Murray Edwards College

Dr Joanna Williams of the University of Kent said that the decision marked the “end of women-only spaces”.

“This college was set up several decades ago when things were very different for female students,” she said.

“If some women want to have a women-only space, if they choose to be there, they should have every right to do that.

“To then learn that you’re sharing your dormitory, your bathroom with someone who is biologically male is an infringement on your right to choose the right the educational environment you chose.”

Murray Edwards College used to be called New Hall

Academics from the college defended the move, saying it does not challenge the College’s single-sex status but is a recognition of the fact that "how we define women is changing".

Juliet Foster, a senior tutor at Murray Edwards, said: “Our position is very clear: we want to be open to all outstanding young women, and we felt that society is changing and there is greater understanding of the complexities surrounding gender.

“We felt that was therefore in line with our values to accept all women, including transgender people who identify as female."

Tilda Swinton studied at Murray Edwards College Credit:
Rex Features

Dame Barbara Stocking, President of Murray Edwards, added: “Society is changing and there is now a greater understanding of the complexities of gender.

"In order that we remain true to our mission of being open to all outstanding young women we recognise that it is right for anyone who identifies as female, regardless of their born gender, to be able to apply to study with us."

Kate Litman, women’s officer at Murray Edwards, said that students are “thrilled” with the change of policy. “We recognise many women still experience environments where their achievements are not recognised or their voice is not heard,” she said.

“Murray Edwards fosters an environment which celebrates women and encourages us to reach our potential, and it is absolutely right that all women should have the chance to study here, no matter what gender they were assigned at birth."

Celia Macleod, chair of the Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES), a charity that supports people who are transgender or do not conform to a particular gender, said she welcomes the decision “to respect and support all gender diverse people”.

Murray Edwards, which was founded in 1954 and used to be called New Hall, is one of three all-women’s colleges at Cambridge University and is the first to make such a change to its admissions policy.

At the university’s other women-only colleges, Newnham and Lucy Cavendish, any application must be recognised under the Gender Recognition Act.